


The 12 Days of Sidewinder - Day 11

by Astrumiel, sasstrick



Series: 12 Days of Sidewinder [11]
Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux, Sidewinder Series - Abigail Roux
Genre: Dreams, M/M, Melancholy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-08 14:52:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5501813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Astrumiel/pseuds/Astrumiel, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasstrick/pseuds/sasstrick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kelly wakes up Christmas morning with Nick and... his parents?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The 12 Days of Sidewinder - Day 11

**Author's Note:**

> Minor spoilers in here for Part & Parcel!!!
> 
> Also, Kelly's parents are named in here - Abi has never mentioned their names as far as I know! Their names are Irene and Cam in this.

Kelly woke slowly. The warmth that surrounded him was a contrast to the cold outside and he hummed, stretching his feet and tangling them with the ones that lay beside his. He smiled, running his heal up the inside of Nick’s calf and snuggled closer, pushing his head up underneath Nick’s chin and earning him a grunt. 

“Kels,” Nick chuckled, tightening his hold on him. 

“Merry Christmas, babe,” He whispered and Nick smiled, adjusting his hold so he could lean down and kiss his head. 

“Merry Christmas, Doc,” He murmured back. Kelly chuckled at the crackle of sleep in Nick’s voice and he pushed up and pressed his lips to Nick’s, ignoring the morning breath and just enjoying the feel of him. 

“Can we stay in bed all day?” Kelly mumbled against Nick’s lips and pushed against him suggestively. 

“You know we can’t,” Nick laughed, nuzzling his cheek. 

“Please,” Kelly groaned, digging his nails into Nick’s back and Nick let off an insufferable laugh. 

“You’re hopeless.”

“I’m determined.”

“I don’t think your mo-”

“Kelly baby!” A woman’s voice came from the door. Kelly looked up sharply, his ears pricking with the sound of familiarity and his body tensing with warning. Nick laid calm beside him. 

Kelly also cocked his head at the fact that his loft was now closed in with a door. 

“She knows we’re awake, you may as well answer,” Nick laughed. Kelly glanced at him confused, unable to say anything. When he made no move to acknowledge the call, Nick rolled his eyes, “We’re up, Irene!” Nick called back. Kelly sat frozen beside him and Nick sat up to look at him. 

“I’m confused,” Kelly murmured, his eyes stinging. Nick cocked his head and rubbed a hand over Kelly’s back. 

“Babe, what’s going on?” Nick asked softly. Kelly glanced up at him and then glanced back at the door. 

“I’m starting breakfast! Hurry up or your candycakes are gonna get cold Kell Bell!” The woman called to them and Kelly choked, staring at the door. 

“What the hell,” Kelly rasped while Nick laughed beside him.

“Is it weird that I still find you sexy even when you’re being called Kell Bell?” Nick teased. When Kelly’s distraught expression didn’t change, Nick’s joking dropped immediately and he was hovering on the verge of pouncing at anything that may threaten. 

“They… were gone,” Kelly gasped, trying to get ahold of his panic. 

“They’ve been here since last night,” Nick tried to reason. Kelly shook his head and closed his eyes. 

“This is a dream,” He murmured. Nick shook his head, confused and worried. 

“Babe,” He tried and Kelly swallowed. Well. If this was a fucking dream, he was going to enjoy it. 

“I want my fucking candycakes,” He said on a half sob, throwing the covers off and standing a bit unsteadily. 

“Kels,” Nick tried and Kelly shook his head, wiping his eyes with the palms of his hands.

“Come on, Nicko, let’s do this before it’s over,” He pointed and began walking towards the weird door. 

“Babe,” Nick chuckled. Kelly turned to him with his eyebrow raised. “Pants.”

When they appeared from the bedroom (clothes), Kelly wasn’t prepared for what he saw. He held his breath on his way down the stairs and paused as soon as he got a glimpse of them. 

His mother was still as short as he remembered her being. Now though, she was round and soft, her olive skin creased with age. Her dark hair was still long, half of it pulled back away from her face. She was wearing flannel pajama pants and was wrapped in a soft turquoise throw. So rich in color that it matched her eyes. 

His father was tall as ever, lean and strong, but the hint of age weighing in his middle. His hair was shaved close, contrasting how it was before and he now wore glasses on the tip of his nose. 

Seeing them in his kitchen, alive and aged as if nothing had happened nearly stole Kelly’s breath. 

“Kell Bell, get me the-” Irene’s request was cut off abruptly as Kelly wrapped her in a tight hug. He buried his face in her neck and let a few tears fall as he held her and she laughed lightly, wrapping her arms around him and reaching up to tug at the hair behind his ear, a gesture she did often whenever he hugged her. The act made his chest hurt. 

“Kelly,” Cam, his father chuckled from his place at the table. Kelly looked up over his mom’s shoulder to look at him and the older man was chuckling, shaking his head while Nick fell into a chair beside him. Without a word, he handed a few pages of the newspaper to Nick and they sat back to read. 

Kelly didn’t leave his mother’s side as she cooked the pancakes (a few candycakes for Kelly) and they all sat at the table, Kelly taking the seat between his parents. Nick raised a brow and gave an amused smile to that, but didn’t comment. 

“One of us is going to have to go pick up your grandmother in a few hours.” Cam reminded looking pointedly at Kelly with a small smile as he grabbed for his coffee. Kelly looked up sharply at that, his mouth bursting with the rainbow, chocolate, and pancakes. 

“I can do it.” Nick volunteered almost at once. Kelly tried to swallow and nodded. Cam chuckled, lifting a hand to pat at Kelly’s head fondly. 

“Oh Nicholas.” Irene said in her lovely accent making Nick’s name sound like “Nick lass” making Nick smile. “We can’t make you do that, the last thing we need is you and my mother starting conversations about historic conspiracy theories.” She teased him. Kelly swallowed, sighing into the easy conversation and normalcy. He needed this. He craved this. 

“To be fair she’s the one who comes up with most of them.” Nick answered easily, getting up from the table and taking the empty plates from everyone. “You coming with Kels?” He asked expectantly.

Kelly was still trying to wrap his mind around it, it was a dream it absolutely had to be but if this was his one chance to see his family again he was going to take it as far as he could. 

“Yeah of course babe.” He said. His grandmother died when he was 17 and he couldn’t wait to wrap that fragile little woman in his arms. 

Nick grabbed his coat while Kelly headed for the laundry room for a shirt and socks. When he reemerged, Nick was waiting for him by the door, fiddling with an ornament on the tree. 

“What’s this one?” He asked Irene as she walked by. 

Hanging off the tree was a two mouthed vase, a miniature of the one Kelly’s parents had, but with different colors. His mother laughed delightedly and went over to explain it to him.

“It’s a wedding vase,” She explained patiently, and Kelly realized she was teaching Nick their culture, their customs, and it brought the sting of tears to his eyes to see Nick fitting so beautifully into his family. He could have told Nick he was ready to go right then, instead he listened waiting by the doorway to something he knew he would never again have a chance to. 

“A wedding vase?” Nick asked, smiling. When Kelly approached, he reached for his hand and squeezed. 

“Tradition in different Native American ceremonies. It’s a ceramic vessel that is used during the wedding before the partners are declared married. They sip from the spouts as a union. The handle represents unity, and the actual vessel represents the lives they will then share. We are having one made for your wedding that looks like this. Much larger,” Irene winked. “Make sure you sip gracefully, though. Spilling any is bad luck,” She chuckled, turning back to the kitchen to begin cleaning. 

Kelly swallowed, smiling and turning to Nick who was looking at him fondly and rubbing his thumb over the antler, turquoise, and wood ring Kelly had on his left hand. 

They picked up Kelly’s grandmother and when they arrived back at the cabin, the now hard of hearing woman was all smiles in her favorite chair that Kelly had in the corner. Kelly spent the day helping his mother in the kitchen and he could almost forget that this was a dream. 

Cam and Nick bonded over sports while they prepped deserts and Kelly’s grandmother sat happily on her own, making comments when she so pleased. 

Kelly felt content. Kelly felt happy. And he thanked the gods that even while this was all in his mind, he was thankful for the gift of it. He almost felt as if it was his parents talking to him from death. He and Nick were going to be getting married on New Years and this was like a wedding gift. From them. 

Kelly would take it.

~*~

When Kelly finally woke on Christmas morning - The real Christmas morning- He sat up in he and Nick’s bed, letting the emotion settle in his chest. He let it churn for a moment, allowing it to go from sadness and melancholy to appreciation and nostalgia and thankfulness. 

“Kels?” Nick murmured. 

“Merry Christmas, babe,” Kelly whispered, turning to Nick and pressing his lips to his. Nick held him close and they tangled together quietly in the early morning, leaning on one another. 

“You okay?” Nick asked him softly. 

“I’m good. Just… dreams,” He told him, sitting up again, but keeping his hands on Nick. 

“Want to get up and make breakfast? Open presents?” Nick suggested and Kelly nodded, allowing Nick to get up and pull Kelly out with him. 

They got some tea and threw some muffin batter in the over before escaping to the tree. 

“What’s that?” Kelly murmured as his eyes laid on a box. It was plainly wrapped and sat among the other gifts they had received over the week through the mail from family and Sidewinder. 

“Must have came with yesterday’s group. I don’t remember it,” Nick said. He bent to pick it up. “Says it’s for both of us,” He said, handing it up to Kelly. 

Kelly stared down at it and noticed the lack of “From” and he swallowed, sitting on the couch. Nick crawled to his feet and followed Kelly down to the couch cushions. He slid his hand over Kelly’s shoulders and Kelly needled his finger into the seam of the wrapping paper and carefully unwrapped the box. 

Inside the box was a turquoise vase. It had swirls of white and strokes of black to form patterns and figures around it. It had two spouts and he hooked his finger in the handle to lift it out. As he stared at it, his heart clenched and he was finding it hard to breath. 

“Oh,” Nick smiled, reaching out to balance it in the palm of his hand. “I read about this. It’s a wedding vase. Tradition in different Native American ceremonies. It’s a ceramic vessel used during the wedding before the partners are declared married. They sip from the spouts as a union. The handle represents unity, and the actual vessel represents the lives they will then share,” He explained, taking Kelly’s silence as a meaning that he didn’t know what it was. Kelly swallowed again, nodding. “We can’t spill it though, bad luck,” Nick winked. 

Kelly smiled softly, letting a small tear track down his cheek and he leaned his head on Nick’s shoulder. Nick set the vase down on the coffee table and wrapped his arms around Kelly. 

“I love you,” Kelly whispered and Nick smiled, turning his head into his hair and kissing the crown of his head. He reached up and tugged at the hair behind Kelly’s ear and laughed. 

“I love you too. Now let’s open all these other presents, maybe there’s something useful in the pile.”

Kelly watched him in silence as he poked through the pile and smiled. Nick was his family now. He always had been, really. And the dream felt like a gift from his parents. A gift of love and blessing over he and Nick. 

Kelly warmed, crawling to sit beside Nick on the floor to open the presents with their wedding vessel sitting on the table beside them.


End file.
